Tony’s Night Banquet

Lake and Rachel exchanged a look.

"Open the door."

Lake looked at the person standing at the door, a mix of surprise and unexpectedness on his face. "Pepper."

Yes.

Pepper Potts, Tony Stark’s personal secretary.

Pepper Potts, wearing a beautiful dress, hugged Lake and said, "Lake, Tony knows you’re here and wants to invite you to dinner."

Lake asked curiously, "Really? I thought you and your boss would be on some private island you bought overseas at this time."

Aren’t private islands the top choice for vacations for these super-rich individuals? After all, they can do whatever they want on those islands without worrying about paparazzi or public opinion.

Pepper replied, "Not this year."

Lake turned to look at Rachel, who was walking over, and introduced them.

"Pepper Potts, Secretary-General of Stark Industries."

"Rachel Toledo, my girlfriend."

"Hello!"

"Hello."

After Pepper and Rachel shook hands, Pepper looked at Lake, "So, are you going?"

Lake thought for a moment and nodded, "Of course, it’s always a pleasure to be invited, isn’t it?"

After he finished speaking.

Pepper hugged Lake again before turning to leave. Not far away, Happy, who looked more like a boss than a bodyguard, opened the car door for Pepper to get in.

Soon.

The car drove away.

Closing the door.

Rachel looked at Lake curiously, "This explains one thing."

Lake looked at Rachel curiously.

Rachel said, "You and Tony Stark are good friends. That explains your lifestyle very well."

According to outside speculation.

Although Tony Stark has always been unmarried, it’s estimated that he has more than a couple of illegitimate children out there.

After all, some models who dated Tony Stark once loved to spill the beans, like Tony Stark’s performance in bed.

Just right.

In Rachel’s opinion, if Lake knew the wealthy Tony Stark, it would explain a lot of things.

Lake was a bit speechless. He wasn’t like Tony, who was all about the physical and not the emotional. "I don’t think Tony Stark and I are good friends, just ordinary acquaintances. It’s because I cleared up the Howard Stark couple’s case."

Moreover.

From a certain perspective, that case wasn’t truly closed.

Because the Howard Stark case that was reopened last time was strange from the inside out.

In the afternoon.

Lake, along with Rachel, who had spent two hours on her makeup, and Josie, drove directly to Tony Stark’s vacation estate, also located in Santa Barbara.

Pepper Potts was already waiting at the entrance of the estate’s main hall.

Tony Stark was waiting in the lounge area of the main hall. Once Lake and the others arrived, the dinner began.

Various delicacies prepared on-site by top chefs from Los Angeles were dazzlingly presented.

Josie ate happily. Even ordinary ingredients were transformed into something different with the touch of a top chef.

Soon.

As dinner was nearing its end, Lake and Tony mentioned going to taste some fine wine, and then Lake was led by Tony to the basement.

It was full of a sci-fi vibe.

After opening the wine.

Lake took a sip of bourbon and looked directly at Tony, who was sitting opposite him. "Did you find any leads?"

Tony wouldn’t have invited him to dinner for no reason. At the very least, Lake understood that their relationship wasn’t close enough for that. So, apart from just eating, there must have been something important.

Tony put down his glass and called out to the omnipresent Jarvis.

Jarvis’s voice came through, "Mr. Edwin, I have checked all global databases and found no lady matching the description of Wanda Maximoff that you provided."

Lake raised an eyebrow. "Sokovia?"

Jarvis replied, "No, sir. According to your description, I accessed major databases and did not find Ms. Wanda Maximoff. The closest I could find was at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Utah, where I found a Gypsy couple. They are indeed the Maximoff couple, but they have no children and have never adopted any."

Lake frowned slightly.

"That’s not right."

"Utah?"

"Yes."

Jarvis continued, "According to the collected data, this Maximoff couple ran a gypsy amusement park. Because it’s mobile, the information I could find only goes back six years. At that time, the old gypsy leader passed away, and then this Maximoff couple took over."

Lake stroked his chin, "Then what about Wanda?"

Jarvis remained silent, instead projecting a large screen. With a whoosh, the screen was instantly filled with a dense collection of small photographs.

"Globally, there are about 120,000 people named Wanda. Twenty thousand of them are male, so we’ve eliminated them. Then, based on the information you provided, we’ve filtered out women over twenty, but there are still nearly forty thousand…"

"…"

Tony swirled the wine in his glass, "I never asked, why are you looking for this Wanda?"

Lake snapped back to attention and glanced at Tony.

Why?

The reason your parents’ case was reopened and solved is because this Scarlet Witch caused trouble.

After all, Lake could think of no one else in the Marvel Universe with reality-altering abilities except for the Scarlet Witch. As for others, the Reality Stone wasn’t on Earth, so they couldn’t cause trouble.

But…

Lake didn’t tell Tony why he was looking for her, because it was just a guess. What if?

Besides.

If you calculate based on the timeline, let alone whether the current Wanda was an adult, even if she was, Wanda’s powers awakened with the help of Hydra.

Lake frowned and said to Jarvis, "Thank you. If you can’t find her, then you can’t. Maybe I remembered wrong."

After all, this was reality, not a movie.

Maybe…

Wanda wasn’t in this version of Lake’s reality. As for the person who altered reality and deliberately made him take on Howard Stark’s case, perhaps it was someone else.

Like a bald woman in the snowy mountains.

Lake had only seen the bald woman once when he was little. If Wanda wasn’t the one causing trouble, then there was only one other possibility: The Ancient One was causing trouble.

Forget it.

If there’s a chance, I’ll go visit Brick Street and ask.

Lake thought this to himself, then looked at Tony, "You invited me to dinner just for this?"

Tony shook his head.

Jarvis projected another item.

Lake looked up. At first glance, it was an autopsy report, but upon closer inspection, a string of professional terms made Lake’s head spin. "Whose is this?"

"Bucky Barnes’."

"Oh."

Lake nodded, looking at Tony Stark with some confusion. "This guy died on the operating table. You should know about this, right?"

Tony nodded. "Yes, I was there and watched him die."

Lake frowned. "So?"

Tony said gravely, "But later, I performed a detailed autopsy on him and discovered something. This Bucky Barnes isn’t Bucky Barnes."

Lake: "…"

What did he mean, this Bucky Barnes wasn’t Bucky Barnes?

Lake blinked, his expression conveying that Tony had thoroughly confused him.

"Jarvis."

"Mr. Edwin."

Upon receiving the command, Jarvis immediately began explaining to the bewildered Lake, "According to the detailed examination and research of Bucky Barnes’ organs…"

Lake listened to a string of academic terms being thrown around. "Just give me the conclusion."

Jarvis complied readily. "This Bucky Barnes is fake."

Lake’s mouth twitched. "You’re being too concise. I’m not a genius like your boss. Explain it simply."

Jarvis directly stated, "According to the examination and research, the age of Bucky Barnes’ internal organs is inconsistent with his apparent age. Based on the experimental results, the actual growth age of his internal organs does not exceed two years."

"Huh?"

Tony, sitting across from him, said to Lake, "I suspect this Bucky Barnes is a clone. The real Bucky Barnes is still at large."

A clone?

Good grief.

I just came here for a vacation. Who did I offend? Can I just have a peaceful vacation?

Lake snapped back to attention, rubbing his temples as he processed the news. Then, frowning, he said to Tony, "If Bucky Barnes is a normal person, then what’s his real age? Seventy-eight, right? We all know Bucky Barnes was injected with some kind of agent by that Russian Deep Dive organization. Maybe it’s because of that agent?"

Tony stated directly, "Impossible."

Lake asked, "Why?"

Jarvis interjected, "Mr. Edwin, an agent with such powerful effects would definitely be detectable, even if there was the slightest trace. However, in this Bucky Barnes’s organs, no traces of non-experimental drugs were found. Furthermore, according to an archived report, Bucky Barnes punctured his lung during an operation, but on this corpse, there are no signs of any lung damage."

Tony looked directly at Lake and said gravely, "This is a clone. They deceived me."

His father’s killer was actually still alive?

Tony was in a terrible mood. If he hadn’t seen this Bucky Barnes die, and if the tests on the organs at the time hadn’t been a bit strange, leading him to bring in several experts in forensic pathology to conduct a joint autopsy, he probably would have believed Bucky Barnes was dead. He had even been ready to go to Howard Stark’s grave to tell him the great news of revenge.

But it turned out…

This person was fake.

This Bucky Barnes was actually a fake.

The real killer of his father, from the beginning until now, was still at large.

Hearing Tony Stark’s certainty, Lake’s expression also soured a bit.

It wasn’t for any other reason.

If this was true, then…

Good heavens!